PLUNGER WITH ANNULAR EXTERIOR SEALS AND METHOD OF INSTALLING ANNULAR SEALS ON AN EXTERIOR SURFACE OF A PLUNGER
A method of installing annular seals on a plunger. A first step involves positioning an annular seal on a seal installation tool adapted to hold the annular seal in an expanded state. A second step involves positioning the annular seal so that the annular seal overlies a body of a plunger. A third step involves transferring the annular seal from the seal installation tool to a seal groove in the body of the plunger.
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A plunger with annular exterior seals and a method of installing annular seals on an exterior surface of a plunger.
BACKGROUNDGas lift plungers have a number of annular exterior seals. A joint is positioned at each seal location to allow the disassembly of the plunger, in order to facilitate installation of the annular seals. Each joint is a potential failure point for the plunger.
SUMMARYAccording to one aspect, there is provided a plunger, which has a cylindrical body. All or at least a portion of the body is in one piece with more than one circumferential exterior seal groove. Replaceable annular seals are positioned in selected ones of the seal grooves.
According to another aspect there is provided a method of installing annular seals on a plunger. A first step involves positioning an annular seal on a seal installation tool adapted to hold the annular seal in an expanded state. A second step involves positioning the annular seal so that the annular seal overlies a body of a plunger. A third step involves transferring the annular seal from the seal installation tool to a seal groove in the body of the plunger.
These and other features will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intended to in any way limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiment or embodiments shown, wherein:
The preferred embodiment, a plunger generally identified by reference numeral 10, will now be described with reference to
Plunger 10 has a cylindrical body 12. Body 12 is machined in one piece with numerous circumferential exterior seal grooves 14. Replaceable annular seals 16 made from elastomer are positioned in seal grooves 14. As depicted, annular seals 16 are positioned in every other seal groove 14. Plunger 10 has the distinct advantage of having no joints. It will be appreciated that it not essential that there be no joints. Benefits could be gained by simply reducing the number of joints. This is done by placing more than one of seal grooves 14 on each portion of more than one portion of body 12.
It would not be possible to make plunger 10, unless some method were developed for installing annular seals 16 onto a one piece body 12.
Referring to
It will be appreciated that body 22 of seal installation tool 20 need not be in the form of a sleeve. It will also be appreciated that body 22 need not overlie plunger 10, as long as annular seal 16 does. It will also be appreciated that seal seat 26 can be discontinuous, as annular seal 16 could be just as effectively held in an expanded condition by a plurality of fingers arranged in a ring.
Referring to
Referring to
The inner diameter of sleeve 40 is large enough to receive cylindrical body 12. Referring to
In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-liming sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be one and only one of the elements.
It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the illustrated embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined in the Claims.
Claims
1. A seal carrying sleeve, comprising:
- a tubular body having an outer surface defining a seal-carrying surface and an inner surface defining an inner bore having a diameter; and
- more than one plunger seal positioned on the seal-carrying surface for installing on the plunger body, the plunger seal being in an expanded state on the seal-carrying surface, and contracting to a contracted state when removed from the seal-carrying surface;
- the diameter of the inner bore being substantially the same as an outer diameter of the plunger seal in the contracted state.
2. The seal carrying sleeve of claim 1, wherein the plunger seal has an outer surface, the outer surface having a first outer diameter and a second outer diameter that is greater than the first outer diameter, and wherein the diameter of the inner bore is greater than the first outer diameter and less than the second outer diameter.
3. In combination, a plunger and seal-carrying sleeve,
- the plunger comprising: a cylindrical body, at least a portion of the body being in one piece with more than one circumferential exterior seal groove; and replaceable annular seals positioned in selected ones of the seal grooves; and
- the seal carrying sleeve comprising: a tubular body having an outer surface defining a seal-carrying surface and an inner surface defining an inner bore, the diameter of the inner bore being greater than the outer diameter of cylindrical body of the plunger; and more than one plunger seal positioned on the seal-carrying surface, the plunger seal being adapted to be installed in the circumferential exterior seal grooves.
4. The combination of claim 3, wherein the plunger seal has an outer surface having a first outer diameter and a second outer diameter that is greater than the first outer diameter, and wherein the diameter of the inner bore is greater than the first outer diameter and less than the second outer diameter.
5. A seal installation tool for well plungers, comprising:
- a seal replacement cartridge carrying a plurality of annular replacement seals, the seal replacement cartridge having a cylindrical body with an interior surface defining an interior bore and an exterior surface;
- each of the plurality of annular seals being expanded onto the exterior surface of the body;
- the interior bore of the body accommodating a well plunger in overlying relation.
6. The seal installation tool of claim 5, wherein the interior bore of the body has a diameter that is greater than the outer diameter of the well plunger equipped with exterior seals needing replacement but less than the outer diameter of the well plunger with exterior seals not needing replacement, such that the interior bore of the body serves as a wear gauge to indicate when seals have been worn to such an extent as to require replacing.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 15, 2008
Publication Date: Dec 18, 2008
Patent Grant number: 8151690
Applicant: FOURTH DIMENSION DESIGNS LTD. (Edmonton)
Inventor: Murray R. TOWNSEND (Edmonton)
Application Number: 12/173,216
International Classification: F16J 9/00 (20060101); B23P 15/10 (20060101);